Rick Green [00:00:07] This is the intersection of faith and culture. Thank you for joining us today on this good news Friday, always enjoy the good news that David and Tim have collected over the last week or so, sometimes for months ago, and we just didn't have time to get to it, so I have no idea what they've got for us today, but I know you're going to enjoy it. Be sure to check out our websites, wallbuilders.com and wallbuilder.show. The .show is for the radio program itself, just to catch up on shows. And then wallbuilds.com for everything else. So check that out today and be sure and check out also making that one-timer monthly contribution. Helps us to get this truth into more hands and to really take advantage of this moment. I mean, this is just an incredible moment guys, where the winds that are back and, and so many people are listening now. And I think the good news, you know, is going to spur them on even more, right? So if we talk about some of these victories that are out there, all these new people that are saying, what can I do, what can I, do? These would be great examples of ways to engage in the culture. So let's get started. David, what's the first piece of good news today? 

David Barton [00:01:02] Well, this is still continuing positive effects following Charlie Kirk's assassination. And it's, there's just some striking things happening still in the culture, that are downstream that assassination that have produced a very positive fruit and you go back to what Erika Kirk did there at, at the, you know, on, I want to say national TV, but it was bigger than that, it was global live stream that went to a hundred million. So it's much more than anything TV would have covered. And at the point that she specifically called out the assassin and said, I forgive you, you know, Jesus had a teaching to his disciples there at the, at the end before he departed and he said, guys, whoever sends you remit will be remitted, but whoever sends you retain will be retained and that's a powerful statement that Jesus gave the disciples on the power of forgiveness, uh, that it can affect not only you when you forgive, but it can't even affect those that you do forgive. Releasing God's power in the Holy Spirit to work on them. And so with her saying that, you know, that was necessary for her for sure. Jesus, very clear. You forgive those who do injury to you. You, you turn the other cheek, essentially, what she did spiritually, made herself vulnerable, but she followed Jesus' command, but it's interesting. One of the people that had a, had a downstream effect on that forgiveness that she offered the assassin. Was Tim Allen and I was real surprised when I read the story and a Tim Allen, if you know, as an actor, Hollywood guy, he, a lot of fun movies, you know? I love the Santa Claus movies that he did Galaxy Quest, Home Improvement, all those things, but he had a rough upbringing that I was completely unaware of. I didn't realize he, you know, watching all of his movies. I had no clue that he spent two years in jail. That he was busted with a large amount of cocaine back in seventies and had, you know, kind of straighten his life up from drugs. But spiritually he, he really had some problems because his dad had been killed by a drunk driver and he never forgave the guy that killed his dad. And that unforgiveness has chewed on him and eaten on him for a long time. And for whatever reason, um, Tim was watching the memorial service. And when Erika forgave the assassin, Tim Allen said that at that point, he said, you know, he did the same thing. He forgave the guy who killed his father, even though it had been, decades and literally it had been like 60 years since that guy had killed his father and he'd been holding that, grudge or bitterness. And he was 11 years old when his dad died, but it's interesting what he said. He said, part of me still doesn't trust that everything will work out all right. I knew my father was dead, but I was never satisfied with why he was dead. I wanted answers that minute from God. Do you think this is funny? Do you this is necessary? He asked God, and I've had a tumultuous relationship with my Creator ever since, and he said he fell away from the faith in God that he had at that point in time. And, and so he went through all this tragedy, but said when Erika forgave the assassin and he forgave, the guy who killed his father. He's had a turnaround and he said, he started reading through the entire Bible for the first time in his life. He just posted, he said I finished the old Testament and it is such a gift when I get out of the way and the words and the meaning flow this week, I am now in the gospel of Paul and that that's interesting. There is no gospel of Paul, but that I'm sure that means he's in the new Testament, so here you got a guy coming to faith and you know, he doesn't have all the terminology that's great, but he says, I'm now in the book of the gospel of Paul. A Roman Jew familiar with Plato, Stoicism, and other Greek schools of thought. I am amazed in seven pages. So it's a real spiritual really rebirth for Tim Allen. And that's just one of, I think, many untold stories, that are still trickling down and trickling out and becoming public from what happened at that Memorial. And I'm really glad for Tim Alan, a voice, appreciated as an actor, but as a person, I never even thought about his spiritual life. He's also been a pretty. Always been a pretty wholesome guy in the movies he does not boys appreciated that, but I had no idea where he was with the Lord, but this is really fun to see. 

Tim Barton [00:05:34] Well dad, one of the things too, that as you mentioned the verse from the gospel of John, which you just tell us the disciples kind of at the very end of the gospel, there's a lot you just said about forgiveness, not the least of which after he taught in Matthew, I think it's Matthew six, when he was teaching the disciples, more or less what we know as the Lord's prayer, but in it, when he talked about, the forgiveness of sins, Jesus finishes that by saying, if you do not forgive other people's trespasses, neither will your trespasses be forgiven. And so foundationally as Christians, because we know we need God's forgiveness, we should forgive. And I think that's, that's part of what we saw with Erika, what drove her where she said it's, it's what Christ would do. I know it's Charlie would want me to do. And so there's so many fun foundational things to that. And I think, hat was one of the, not just the most vivid, I was going to say the most pivot example we've probably seen of somebody publicly forgiving. That might be the only. Real example I, it's the only way I can think of in my lifetime. I don't know if it's, the only one I've ever seen on that public stage, but certainly, cause I'm thinking back now, it seems like there was a shooter, uh, in a church and some of the family of those that the shooter had killed a part of their family, they forgave him in the courtroom, I seem to remember that, but certainly this is, this was the, the most visible display of forgiveness we have ever seen. The world has probably ever seen. And what that does by setting the example of really the biblical model we've been called to forgive. And that, as you point out, the example from what Erika set has helped other people embrace that same concept and idea that it's not just something that the Bible says is maybe a good idea. Now, this is part of how we're supposed to live because we know we need God's forgiveness, we're suppose to forgive other people. And we saw one of the most beautiful displays of that humanly possible. When Erika Kirk forgave her husband's murderer. 

David Barton [00:07:34] And by the way, if anybody, I mean, if anybody's got a parallel situation, now may be the time to forgive. If you've held onto something for a number of years, that doesn't help you, it doesn't change anything with the other person, Jesus said, whoever you forgive, he'll forgive. And so it's just good for everybody. Maybe there's others in that Tim Allen situation and if so, man, now, now is the season for forgiveness for sure. 

Rick Green [00:08:00] Well, guys get ready cause I'm about to say something that's really theologically profound and, and I learned from Zig to always tell the audience when I'm going to say some profound cause they don't always notice that it was profound. That was supposed to be funny there. Anyway, um, very theologically, profound here that when Buzz Lightyear himself has been impacted like this, then this, this revival could go to infinity and beyond, okay, I couldn't help it. I mean, that's probably the worst dad joke ever on WallBuilders, but it was just, it was irresistible. But David, I'm so glad you even, you know, said that to the audience because I think it was Ed Rush on a flash point a week or two ago was talking about, even in some of the seminars he's done, he does, you know, that that was one of the activities that they do. And I, I remember doing that 20 years ago with folks in seminars where there's a point in the, you now, just the journey that where you're saying that there's people you've held onto this, bitterness with, and God wants to release you from that. And, and it's a, it's powerful thing. I had, I had no idea that that had happened to him. You know, what was it 60 years ago? So he would have been like a little kid, right? And, yeah, just incredibly powerful. And that's, you know, we said it the day after the Memorial, just how there was just this collective awe when she did that, and man, I really believe that's going to do exactly what you just described for millions and millions of people out there to have that example, and then they'll be able to let go like that and give that, give that forgiveness that they've been holding. 

Tim Barton [00:09:23] And Rick, before we transition, cause I know that's where we're going. I was reminded of a quote and I looked it up real quick to try to see, if I could identify who originated this and there's two people credited with it, one is a theologian. The second is Cory Ten Boom, a Holocaust survivor, but the quote that came to mind was forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and discovering that the prisoner was you. 

Rick Green [00:09:47] And yeah. 

Tim Barton [00:09:47] You know, a lot of times we feel like I'm not going to forgive them, but, but carrying the weight of that unforgiveness, we're the ones carrying the burden when we don't forgive. And obviously that was not easy. What Erika did, but all of us that have had to forgive people, significant hurts in all of, us, everybody listening has had somebody hurt them to some extent or degree, emotionally, mentally, physically, whatever it is, we've all gone through things and we. Probably most of us can think of moments when we finally forgave somebody, there was a burden that was lifted from our shoulders. And that's exactly again, the, the quote I thought of came to mind. Forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and discovering that the prisoner was you. So dad, to echo your point, if somebody's carrying unforgiveness, this is the time. Embrace the grace that we've received from Jesus. God forgave us. We need to forgive others. And when we do, it actually does something spiritually healing for us to take that weight and burden off of our shoulders. 

Rick Green [00:10:45] Well, a great resource for folks that, that you guys actually actually it was Damaris, your daughter, David, for our audience that doesn't know Damaris man, 25 years ago, we were at your ranch and I was so bitter over a campaign that I had lost and the guy's name came up and, and Damaris just saw it in my face. She could tell that I have not let go. And she went into the bedroom and came back out with RT Kendall's book, total forgiveness. And it rocked my world. I mean, it totally changed my mindset. I was finally able to let go of all of that and move on. And so anyway, for folks out there that if this is, if this is hitting a hot button for you and you're looking for a good resource to kind of walk through that, RT Kendall, total forgiveness. And thank you Damaris. If you're out there listening today, thank you for giving that to me at the ranch all those years ago. All right, Tim, you got to get a piece of good news in here before we go to break. 

Tim Barton [00:11:40] Yeah. Well, this one came from Fox news last weekend and it seems like so many people were reporting on this. It was faith leaders report a 15% increase in church attendance as Charlie Kirk effect draws young people to Christianity. The headline says faith revival follows Charlie Kirk's death as more people attend mass and read the Bible. And they quote several people in here are our good friend, Jack Gibbs from Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills. He was on Fox and friends and he was identifying that there are more and more people coming to his church, coming to him. And they're saying, I want to know the meaning of life. I want the purpose of life, why am I here? And a lot of it has sparked since Charlie Kirk's death. They also have quotes from Matt Zarusin. He's the co-founder of Newman ministry. It's a Catholic nonprofit and they're supporting a 200 campus ministries nationwide. But he goes through how they're seeing an increase in mass attendance as well, again, from a lot of young people. And we know just statistically, it's not just young people kind of broad umbrella as a whole. It's actually young men are the ones that are attending and responding the most. Also Charlie Kirk himself was posting several things regarding even thinking America was in a revival, which is a super interesting. Charlie Kirk was seeing something even before his assassination at the couple of months leading into it. He was not just posting about going to church, which he certainly did at times, but he even identified. He said, there's a revival in the Christian church. Churches are growing. Young people are flocking to faith in God. There's a quote from William Wolf, who is the executive director of the center for Baptist leadership. And he said, Charlie Kirk started a political movement. He ended it as a Christian movement. He said what Charlie Kirk did has gone beyond bringing young people to conservative politics. He's helped bring them back to Jesus Christ and concluding, I think Charlie Kirk made it cool to be Christian again. And guys, certainly that is, is part of what we have seen and encountered. Um, I I've now over the last several weeks, I've gone different places. I've asked different pastors and different leaders. What have you seen? And ultimately it's not surprising that every pastor has had different levels of experience and encounters. Some of them have, I've seen a lot more of the surge and young people. Some haven't seen as much in their respective audience. Uh, some of them had a lot of more questions. And so that's, it definitely is, is not completely consistent with everybody's same story, but everybody is seeing something happen. Uh, one of the things that Charlie Kirk posted that, uh, is a very consistent theme from Charlie, especially the last couple of years. And this is just kind of wrapping up the story from Fox news. He said, get married, have children, build a legacy, pass down your values, pursue the eternal and seek true joy. And it's so cool guys, not just seeing the, the resurgence of faith and the younger generation, but also the fact that so much of what is echoing in Charlie's legacy are some of the very foundational things. That help people's lives function and thrive and succeed, but also that help culture function and thrives exceed. Ultimately, it starts with that relationship with Jesus, with the things that are eternal, getting married, having children, building legacy and just really cool to see. And I love the fact that Fox news had a very large article highlighting some of the Charlie Kirk effect, which also was very cool. 

Rick Green [00:15:06] Have y'all noticed that we've had multiple Fridays in a row where the good news Friday is literally the good news. I just have to keep pointing that out. This is the best news we could possibly give. So great stuff. All right, quick break. We'll be right back. We've got a lot more good news for you. Stay with us folks. You're listening to the WallBuilders Show

Rick Green [00:16:28] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. It's good news Friday and we'll just dive right back in with David. 

David Barton [00:16:32] I guess there's a week or so ago when president Trump spoke at the UN and when he was addressing the UN, one of the things he called out the national leaders for was they needed to stand up for religious liberty. And he talked about the fact that religious persecution is going on and that the most persecuted religion he said on the planet was Christianity. Now, for those of us who live in America, that doesn't ring right necessarily. Because, you know, here Christians have, we go through a little bit of pushing back from others and, you know, name calling, whatever, but actual persecution, we just, we haven't really seen that to the degree that we see occasionally in other nations. And so it's just kind of hard to imagine that that a claim like that, that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. It just, so I was looking into that and it was interesting about, I don't know, week, week and a half ago. I was with Glenn Beck and Glenn Beck back 15 years ago, I guess, started the Nazarene fund and it was, it's a fund that people contribute to and we use, and we go in and help persecuted Christians and religious minorities across the world. So when it was in Afghanistan, we were moving Christians out of Afghanistan, out of the way of the Taliban and ISIS, moving Yazidis, moving Druze and other persecuted minorities for their faith. And we still do that. And that's still a very active thing with what we do. And it's interesting that the persecution that's going on so much of it centers right now around Nigeria, and that's a heavily persecuted area. So people may see a little bit of that in the news, but I just want to throw out some numbers that I pulled together when we did that fundraiser for the Nazarene fund. And so if you just look back over the last five years, and you look at persecution in 2021, five years ago, the number of Christians that are persecuted for their faith globally by persecution, not just name-calling. I mean, we're talking serious persecution where you're in danger of losing life or liberty or job or something else because of your faith. The number persecuted in 2021 was 340 million. And at that point in time, the 198 countries that are in the world, Christians were being persecuted in 166 of the world's 198 countries. And that's a high percentage, 166 out of 198. I was really surprised by that. So then you go to the next year in 2022 and the number of Christians persecuted the further faith rose from 340 million to 360 million. And with the persecution there, it was now occurring in a hundred and. It was, it was up to, I think, 185 nations out of the world's 198 countries. And then the most recent statistic is that it has risen from that 340 million to 360. Now it's at 380 million. And grab this in the 198 countries in the world, 192 countries have active persecution of Christians. Only six nations in the world do not actively persecute Christians. And of all those that are persecuted across the world, that's about 94% of all for persecutor, their faith or Christians. So there's about 6% of those persecutors for their faith. They're persecuted for other faiths, whether it be Judaism or again, Druze or anything else. 94% percent of persecutions, religion across the world are of Christians. And that's an 192 of 198 countries. So looking at what president Trump said, when he said that Christians are the most persecuted religion in the world, that's not hyperbola. It's we in America, we live in a bubble. And the fact that we're one of the six nations that doesn't actively persecute Christians. We American Christians can get a wrong perspective of our own religion and not realize how dangerous it is to be a Christian in the rest of the world. So. I applaud president Trump for calling out the UN and calling on him to stop persecuting Christians and fight that persecution. Because again, 192 of 198 nations are persecuted Christians actively right now. So kudos to president Trump, for standing up for Christians across the world. 

Rick Green [00:21:09] Those numbers are staggering we, of course we need to get, you know, get an update on Nazarene fund soon. We haven't done that in a little while, but can you guys just give us even just a quick, you know, one minute on, on what people can do to help with that. I mean, obviously the contributions over Nazarene fund, but Nazarene fund and Mercury one, of course involved all over the world and, and trying to intervene everywhere that we can, I assume, you know, that's still going on with Nazarene fund and I know there's already been a lot of rescues and a lot of positive things happen there. 

David Barton [00:21:37] Yeah, there's a lot going on there and there's a lot of active operations right now. Nigeria is really a hotspot. There are tens of thousands being persecuted. They're actually kidnapping Christians and doing active organ harvesting, killing the Christians, taking their organs and selling them on the black market to finance the terrorist activities. So we've through Nazarene fund been able to shut down one of those organ harvesting farms. There was also one going in Turkey as well. So we're actively moving people out of hot zones into safer areas. Australia to their credit has done a really good job of, of taking folks. Brazil has done a good job of taking persecuted folks. So there's a lot still going on. And I guess Nazarenefund.org is a place to go to give, but there are very active operations going across the world right now with Nazarene fund. 

Tim Barton [00:22:31] Well, and guys, I don't know that we've talked about it on the program. We certainly have off air, quite often, cause one of our good friends, Rob McCoy was with Charlie Kirk over in South Korea shortly before Charlie Kirk was, was murdered. And in South Korea, they have increasing hostility against Christians. Which of course our friend Rob, pastor Rob was over speaking in the church. One of the largest churches in South Korea, their pastor was just arrested for speaking out against some more of the government was doing. And so the reason I bring this up is this isn't just something happening in some dark third world country. There is persecution of Christians happening all over the nation. And it's increasing the good news is I would say to some extent is we actually have a president that does care about people and religious liberty around the nation and he has shown that he's willing to use sanctions and, and try to flex muscle where he can to protect the rights of citizens, even in other nations to the extent he can. And so there is a lot of good stuff happening with this administration. We have a lot of friends in the administration. They're very aware of many of these situations and they're actively involved in trying to help where they can, but certainly it is a big deal going on. And that, as you mentioned, uh, and Rick, you also, but the Nazarene fund, Mercury one are great places to go to support in helping to rescue people from some of the situations and maybe even to find out more about what's actually going on 

David Barton [00:23:56] and I'll add to that. They're actually working on a movie right now that I think will be out next year. Um, and it's outside movie company doing this to really show some of the stuff that Nazarene fund has done over recent years. And so I met one of the, the producers of that talking about the film and what they're doing. I think they, Tim, they recently did a, a early preview of the movie, as I recall at the fundraiser. And so there's a film crew that's been working on this. They got the footage. And it's going to be some remarkable stories. Some of the people have been safe to Nazarene fund and, and what's happened, what was going on when, when literally, we were able to step in and help them. And, and it's, it's I mean, it's a lot of dangerous operations as you can imagine of 192 out of 198 nations are persecuting Christians. That's not a friendly environment. So there's going be a movie coming out before long. I think it's due out in the next six months or so be released nationally. And that will also give a pretty good insight into what's going on. But again, people can contribute and give to Mercury one Nazarene fund. And that, that money does go down range. That's the other thing we do is we have a remarkable percentage that when it's contributed, it actually goes on the ground to get people out of there and not to pay for all the fluff and stuff overhead. We send that money down range to save people. 

Rick Green [00:25:21] Nazarenefund.org rescue, rebuild, restore thousands of lives affected by it. So Tim, do you have a fast one to close us out with like a one minute good news to send us off on the weekend. 

Tim Barton [00:25:32] I don't think we even have a minute left, but yes, I do, at the UN, New Zealand broke ranks with Australia, UK, Canada, a lot of your, a lot of their trade partners, a lot people in Europe. And they said that they are not going to recognize a Palestinian state. They said to, to do so right now, you're emboldening Hamas. You shouldn't be doing that. Look at what happened on October 7th, but what's great about all of this, and I really don't have time to get into it right now is when people criticize them for their position, they did one of the greatest flex moves ever. The government released all of the cabinet papers that relied upon and reaching the decision. So they said, here's all the research. Read all the research that we read and then see what conclusion you come to. So then it's not just somebody's woke ideology that said, Nope, here is all the receipts. Here's the reason Hamas is bad and we shouldn't be supporting a two state solution right now. 

Rick Green [00:26:27] Good stuff. All right, guys. Well, thanks for all the good news today. Headed into the weekend. Everybody be thinking about what you can do. The wind is at our back. Make sure you're part of this rebuilding in our country right now and help fan the flames of this incredible revival that is happening. And we'll be with you on Monday. Thanks for listening to the WallBuilders Show.